


The Hours Behind Us

by hyacintholuscos



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Carmilla Extended Universe, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 21:29:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3952462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyacintholuscos/pseuds/hyacintholuscos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>LaFontaine and Perry are going to celebrate their 50th anniversary</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hours Behind Us

Perry smiled as she finished laying out the plates on the table, her eyes scanning the cloud white tablecloth and her hand reaching out to smooth the slightest crease. She wanted everything to be perfect for their anniversary dinner.

Sam and Hollie had found that they weren’t able to come, but Laura and Carmilla had agreed to come to celebrate, and then, after everyone went home, LaFontaine would be able to open their gift from her. She grinned even wider, wrapping her arms around herself for a moment.

They had been married for fifty years. She had been given the wonderful opportunity to marry her best friend, and more, share her life with them for that time.

They had raised a wonderful child who had married the love of their life, and had never spent a day thinking they weren’t loved or accepted for who they were.

All in all, it was a wonderful life.

She looked at her watch, and felt a twinge of concern. LaFontaine was running a little late. Not a lot, but it was rare for them to work late. _Of course, they could just be stopping to pick something up. You should know well enough by now to stop worrying every second of every day._

She went upstairs to get dressed for the party, since they would be arriving soon, slipping into a blue dress that matched her eyes, and putting on the old silver necklace that LaFontaine had given her years ago, on the date when they became an official couple.

She fingered the cursive L and P that they had given her, remembering how nervous they had been the night they had given it to her. Almost as nervous as they had been when they proposed to her much later.

Silas sometimes seemed like a bad dream, but she realized now, years later, that if it hadn’t been for that crazy school and the years they had spent there, she wouldn’t have had LaFontaine. Not the LaFontaine that she had grown to love with all of her heart and soul.

The doorbell rang and she jumped, startled out of her reverie. “Look at you. Getting startled over every little thing. You’re becoming an old fool, Perry.” She chuckled, walking back downstairs to let Laura and Carmilla in.

The second Laura stepped in, she hugged Perry tight. “I’m so happy for you two. I never would have thought fifty years could go by so fast.”

“That makes two of us, Laura.” She smiled over Laura’s shoulder at Carmilla. “It’s good to see you both. It feels like it has been too long.”

“We saw you last week,” Carmilla said with a trace of her old sarcasm. It had taken a while, but Carmilla had eventually shown more and more of her true self and less of that snarky mask over the years. Now she only used the occasional sarcastic comment to tease the people she cared about.

“Last week, last year. It’s practically the same at this point of our lives,” Perry responded lightly, releasing Laura and hugging Carmilla. Carmilla hugged her just as tightly, not stiffening at all, although it had taken her years to not stiffen at the touch of anyone but Laura. “I’m really sorry. I expected LaFontaine to be home before anyone got here.”

“I’m sure they’re just running a little late,” Laura said casually, pulling off her coat. “No need to be worrying just yet, Perry.”

Perry laughed, and waved a hand, trying to push away her own anxiety. “I’m sure you’re right. You know where the kitchen is. Help yourself to a little wine.”

As Laura and Carmilla walked into the kitchen, Perry pulled out her phone to check for a missed call or a text. Nothing. She shook her head at herself. “Stop being crazy, Perry.”

As they all waited, Perry knew she had reason to be worried. Even the unflappable Carmilla seemed anxious, and everyone’s eyes kept going to the door.

After everyone had been there for 20 minutes, Perry called LaFontaine’s phone, not wanting to feel ridiculous for worrying, but worrying anyway. It went straight to voicemail. “Hey, sweetie. I’m checking in to see where you are. You’re normally home by now. Will you just give me a call and let me know where you are? I love you.”

“Did they say where they are?” Laura asked, a worried furrow pinching the skin between her eyebrows. She bit her lip, and Carmilla wrapped an arm around her shoulders, her eyes questioning.

“It went straight to voicemail. You know LaF,” she added with an unconvincing breathy laugh, “Always forgetting to charge their phone and letting it die.”

“You’re totally right,” Carmilla jumped in immediately, giving a comforting smile. To Perry’s surprise, the phone on the wall rang, making all of them jump. No one really used landlines anymore, except for LaFontaine. They had told Perry, repeatedly, that they didn’t feel like being at just anyone’s reach at a moment’s notice. So they would give out their landline.

Perry grabbed the phone quickly. “Hello?”

“Hello. Is this the LaFontaine residence?” The voice on the other end was brusque, harsh and deep.

“It is. Who is this?”

“This is Officer Williams from...” Perry felt herself go deaf for a moment. Officers didn’t call for no reason, and she knew the shock and fear were registered on her face. Everyone was silent, watching her.

Perry realized the officer had asked her a question, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what he had said. “Sorry?”

His voice had a touch of kindness now. “I know it is late, but could you please come to the hospital? There was an accident, and she was taken to the hospital.”

“They,” Perry corrected unconsciously.

“Sorry?”

“LaFontaine. They are non binary. Not he or she, but they,” she told the officer, calmly.

“Oh. Sorry, ma’am,” he said. “They had a lot of injuries, so we had to take them to the hospital.”

“Yes, of course.” She wrote down the address the officer told her over the phone. It wasn’t far from the house, but when she saw how much her hands were shaking, she didn’t dare to drive herself.

“Perry?” Laura asked, her eyes bleeding concern. “Perr, what’s wrong?”

“We need to go to the hospital. They’re there alone. You know how much they hate hospitals.” Perry felt disconnected, and it made no sense. She was staring at the piece of paper with the address. _It’s our anniversary. Nothing bad can happen today. It’s our day of happiness._

Carmilla’s hand touched her arm. “I’ll drive.” Her voice was soft and gentle. “Come on. Laura, will you grab Perry’s coat? And a coat for LaFontaine,” she added, but her eyes never left Perry’s face, her voice never got louder or changed its tone.

“You’re speaking to me like a scared animal,” Perry said, recognizing the truth, but not recognizing why it was relevant. Carmilla lead her to the door, helped her put on her coat, then lead her to the car. Once she was inside and buckled in the backseat, Laura climbed in with her. Perry noted the scared widening of Laura’s eyes, and found it interesting that that seemed important, but again, she couldn’t connect why it was so important.

It wasn’t until they got to the hospital that she stopped feeling so numb. They were there. LaFontaine was in the building, and she had to get to them, had to see them, had to be there for them. They hated being in the hospital.

As soon as they entered the emergency room, Laura and Carmilla paused, trying to figure out what to do, but Perry made her way directly to the nurses station. “My spouse was brought in from a car wreck. LaFontaine.”

The nurse there looked startled, then checked his list. “I’ll get the doctor. Just a moment.”

“I’ll come with you,” Perry said, then felt Carmilla and Laura’s hands on her arms. “We’ll go with you.”

The nurse smiled an apology. “I’m sorry. The doctors like to meet the families out here. I promise, I will be back in just a moment.”

Perry wanted to argue, but Laura and Carmilla pulled her away, taking her to a row of seats where other people were sitting already, heads bowed in prayer or nervously bouncing their legs, eyes far away. Carmilla put her arm around Perry’s shoulders, and Perry could sense her share a look with Laura.

The nurse came back with the doctor, and Perry stood up. “Mrs. LaFontaine?”

“That’s right.”

The doctor looked down at his hands, surprisingly clean, in her opinion, but she knew that doctors wore gloves and everything, so it shouldn’t be surprising to see clean hands on a doctor. She felt a moment where she knew the words he was going to say, but she refused to believe it until he looked back up at her, eyes filled with empathetic sadness.

“I’m Doctor Michael Nye, and LaFontaine was brought in just a short time ago.” He paused again. “I’m sorry. When they were brought in, their heart had stopped. We tried several times to resuscitate them, but we weren’t able to get their heart going again. LaFontaine has died.”

Perry wasn’t sure how to she felt right then. Numb, a little, and she appreciated the doctor being straightforward about what had happened.

“They are dead?” Her voice didn’t sound small, not the way most people said it sounded when they were in shock. Her voice was too loud in her ears, and the doctor seemed to stand too close, the scent of antiseptic seeming to ooze from his pores and overpower her.

“They are,” he said. She could almost imagine how difficult it would be for him to try to figure out what kind of grief she would display here, in the hospital.

Laura made a choked sobbing sound behind her, and Perry turned around, having forgotten that she and Carmilla were there. Tears streamed down Laura’s face already, and Carmilla was holding her hands, pain filling her dark eyes as she turned to look at Perry.

Perry turned back around, ready to ask a question, but found that she couldn’t speak. Sobs shook her, and her breath refused to come. The world started swimming around her, and she blinked rapidly, but as quickly as she cleared her vision it swam again.

“No. No, they can’t be gone. They can’t die. They made me a deal that they wouldn’t leave me. Not ever.”

She knew she was babbling, knew that none of them could make sense of what she was trying to say, but it didn’t matter. She sat down in her chair heavily, feeling both Laura’s and Carmilla’s arms wrap around her shoulders, trying to hold her there.

The doctor stood there, not leaving, witnessing the grief that the three of them were sharing, and waiting to follow the rest of the procedures that he needed to.

***

It had taken hours for them to take care of everything. Laura had called Hollie and Sam to let them know the news; Perry knew she wouldn’t be able to say the words out loud for days yet. There had been papers that needed to be signed, and she had needed to see their body. It had been surreal, an experience she hoped to never have again.

She was home now, Laura and Carmilla refusing to leave, so they were staying in the room right next to hers.

Perry sat on their bed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to sleep there. But she wanted to be surrounded by their belongings. By the book they had been reading at night for the past year and never read more than two pages at a time. They hadn’t finished the book. Surely LaFontaine wasn’t gone, they wouldn’t have left the book unfinished after trying for a year to read it?

She looked at their dresser, and saw the small box she had wrapped so carefully that morning. Her eyes danced away again, looking around at the rest of the room. LaFontaine’s slippers over by the closet, and their favourite jacket hanging on the hook behind the door. It had been too cold out today for a coat, but they had worn the jacket so much that it was more patches now than actual jacket.

Perry felt tears tracing the salty burns of her tears from the hospital. She patted them dry as quickly as she could, but the burning trails were still pulsing with her own heartbeat. Her heart that kept beating in mutiny. How could this stupid organ not realize that its reason for beating was gone?

Perry stood up. She’d go down and sleep on the couch. She couldn’t stay in this room without a reminder of them being gone.

Her eyes fell on the box again, and she found herself going over to the dresser instead of the door. She picked it up, feeling the heaviness inside.

She sat back down on her bed, turning the box slowly in her hands, feeling the weight attempting to twist the box differently in her hands. The wrapping paper was smooth, and she studied it.

It made no sense to leave it wrapped now.

Perry popped the tape with a finger, the paper falling open so easy under her hands that she wondered at how quick it was gone. The box inside was hinged at a diagonal, so the front and top would snap up when the catch was released.

Inside was the watch that she had seen LaFontaine admiring on an older gentleman they had seen a few months ago. Brand new and silver with gold accents around the face. She pulled it out, and held it carefully in her hand.

When she had ordered it, they had given her the option to inscribe it, and she hadn’t hesitated. She had paid extra for the lines, but it was worth it, and she turned it over.

_The hours I shared with you, my love,  
_ _Are nothing to the hours ahead of us.  
_ _Forever my love, and always yours. P_

Perry clung to the watch, curling up into a ball and falling to face LaFontaine’s side of the bed, tears streaming down her face as she murmured their name over and over again.

_I guess we had different ideas of forever._


End file.
